Leadership, It’s Where you Place the Pressure that Counts!
Here’s a leadership lesson from an engineer – apparently we need to see with more than our eyes.
Did you know that wagon wheels and bicycle wheels work in exactly the opposite way? NEITHER DID I! They are both round, they both ride on an axle and they both roll backwards and forwards; how can they work in opposite ways?! To my knowledge, neither of them work sideways.
True, my engineering friend pointed out, all those observations about wheels are true, but would you put a wagon wheel on a bicycle?
“No.” I answered.
Why not?
Thinking my answer was just too obvious, I said: “It’s too cumbersome and heavy.”
Exactly, you would never win the Tour de France with a wagon wheel on your custom graphite alloy frame.
And therein lies the secret.
Wagon wheels are made of wood, and as a material, wood is a strong and reliable material so long as you play to it’s strengths, which happen to be dead opposite of the strengths of those thin wire spokes on a bicycle wheel. You see, wood works best under the downward pressure of compression, whereas the thins wires of a bicycle wheel would crumble like tinfoil if placed under the pressure of compression. On the other hand, bicycle wheels hold up quite well if pulled on under tension.
When a wagon wheel rolls, it pushes down on the spokes of the wheel, whereas, a bicycle axle pulls down on the spokes. Should you try and pull on a wooden spoke it would separate from the rim, and conversely, a wire spoke would simple collapse under the pressure of compression. But try and ride a wagon through the rutted, furrowed fields on a bicycle wheel and you are unlikely to get very far. Even though they are both wheels, they are quite different, each having its own logical place.
Which are you, a wagon wheel or a bicycle wheel? Do you prefer to be pushed, or pulled? What about your team members, your family, your kids or your spouse? We have a tendency to see what we see – a wheel’s a wheel, they all ride on an axle and do the same thing – oh, you are an engineer, you are this way; or you are an artist, I need to treat you that way… We look only with our eyes and see what can easily be seen, but what about the unique properties of the materials being used, what about the unique qualities of the individuals you are working with? Some engineers are purely logical, others quite artistic such as the one who taught me this lesson. Some respond well to the Steve Jobs form of leadership where he is in your face with harsh criticisms and lavish compliments. Others would collapse under such pressure. So take a leadership lesson from wheels. It’s not the job they do, all wheels roll, it’s where you place the pressure that counts.
